The May 5-11 report period was a rotten one for most shareholders in the U.S., as markets suffered a broad pullback in response to sharp setbacks in Iraq, oil-price shocks, and concerns that the Federal Reserve will finally begin to raise interest rates this summer.
Gold Fields touched a new 52-week low of US$9.75 before recovering to end the period at US$10.56, off US14 on the week. The South African major announced that its first-quarter profits had shrunk to US$38 million (US7 per share) from US$93 million (US20) a year earlier, while attributable gold production held steady at 1 million oz.
Coeur d’Alene Mines saw a significant improvement in its first quarter, losing only US$3 million, compared with the US$31-million loss of a year earlier. The company has benefitted from higher gold and silver prices, as well as improved cash costs at its gold and silver mines in the U.S. and South America. Shares closed at US$4.48, down US52.
The top percentage and value gainer was Montana-based United States Antimony, which jumped 31% to US42 on low volume. The company has become America’s only domestic producer of antimony products, using feed from its 50%-owned antimony mine in Mexico. U.S. Antimony also holds a 75% interest in, and operates, the Bear River zeolite mine in southern Idaho.
Cleveland-Cliffs was the worst value loser over the period, dropping US$4.32 to US$42.54. A week earlier, North America’s no. 1 supplier of iron ore pellets for steelmaking posted a a first-quarter net loss of US$600,000, or US16 a share, compared with US$2.2 million, or US21 a share, in the year-earlier period.
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